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He shook hands with the king in the palace. He had a personal audience with the prime minister, a sit-down talk with the defence minister and lunch with the commander of the marines.

He stayed in a top hotel as guest of the Netherlands and was stopped on the street by strangers who had read and watched news accounts of his story.

And the moment when Dutch King Willem-Alexander stood at attention before him and snapped a salute – a salute to honour this 92-year-old Londoner who was only 17 when his heroics became a legend to his nation – that left Willem (Bill) Ramakers speechless.

For a week, Ramakers was feted by an entire nation.

Such royal treatment made the low-key Londoner, who has lived in Canada since 1950, prouder than he’d ever been in his life.

“It was unbelievable and all for the sake of me. I couldn’t understand it,” marvels Ramakers, who returned home to London this week.

He is one of three surviving marines of the battle of Maasbruggen, part of a small group of men who for days held off a much larger and better trained German force in May 1940, at the bridges leading to Rotterdam.

The battle has become legendary in the Dutch psyche – a symbol of resilience under impossible odds – and those marines were nicknamed the Black Devils.

Only recently did Ramakers disclose to a nursing-home staff member and then his family that he had been one of them, as he wondered aloud if he might be the sole remaining Black Devil and if his birth nation knew if he was still alive.

The Dutch military, overjoyed, rolled out the red carpet and made Ramakers and his family their guests for Veterans’ Day celebrations last week.

“Everybody wanted to shake my hand because, for one thing, I thought I was the only survivor (there) from the battle of Rotterdam. There were two other people (alive) but they were not capable of being there.”

It was, Ramakers said, the greatest week of his life.

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On meeting King Willem-Alexander at the palace reception:

“He looked at me and talked to me like he wasn’t anything special. (When King Willem-Alexander saluted), I felt like he wanted to make sure I knew he admired me. No so much me, but what I stood for. That was a wonderful experience. That’s when I had tears in my eyes.”

On the importance of honouring veterans:

“I think every country in the world needs someone they can look up to as a symbol, a symbol.”

On other highlights:

The family reunion in Eindhoven with 40 relatives; the military drum band that played in the marine barracks and the brass band that played the Dutch national anthem in the throne room; the new-ness of Rotterdam after the devastation of the war; watching the Netherlands-Mexico game on television.

On being stopped in the street by strangers:

“Everybody wanted to shake my hand because, for one thing, I thought I was the only survivor (there) from the battle of Rotterdam. There were two other people (alive) but they are not capable of being there.”

On life-changing moments:

“Will life ever be the same? No, now it’s in the back of my head all the time.”